After Tornado, Obama Visit Puts Politics on Pause in Arkansas

President Obama walked with residents through the wreckage of a tornado-damaged subdivision in Vilonia, Ark., on Wednesday.

Brendan Smialowski / Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT

May 7, 2014

VILONIA, Ark. — President Obama’s visit here on Wednesday was in many respects just like the many others he has made to disaster-ravaged communities across the country, but this one came with a bit of political intrigue.

Among those greeting Mr. Obama when he landed in Little Rock was the state’s Democratic senator, Mark Pryor, who is running for re-election against Representative Tom Cotton. The race has been expected to be tight, and Mr. Pryor has tried, until recently, to distance himself from Mr. Obama and other Democrats. The president is particularly unpopular in Arkansas — and this was his first visit to a state he lost by wide margins in both 2008 and 2012.

But the powerful tornado that roared through this town of 3,800 people two weeks ago has pushed politics to the side, and last week Mr. Pryor — one of only a handful of Senate Democrats from the South — issued an invitation to the president to visit and bear witness to the devastation.

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So on Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Obama stood in a Vilonia subdivision in which 50 of the 56 houses had been destroyed. He praised local officials and the authorities for their response to the storm — the second tornado in three years — and he pledged the federal government’s full support for Vilonia as it tried again to rebuild.

“The people of Vilonia and all the other towns devastated by the storm understand there’s a lot of work that remains to be done,” Mr. Obama said, “but I’m here to remind them that they’re not doing this work alone. Your country’s going to be here for you. We’re going to support you every step of the way.”

Mr. Pryor, a two-term incumbent, stood right behind Mr. Obama as he made his remarks, and the president made sure to point out the senator’s leadership role in the tornado recovery efforts. He praised Mr. Pryor; Vilonia’s mayor, James Firestone; Gov. Mike Beebe and Representative Tim Griffin, for being “hands-on, on the ground throughout these difficult days.”

The tornado that touched down here was part of a storm system that stretched through the Midwest before it streaked across the South. But the most significant damage occurred here, where 16 people — including a baby — were killed. The winds from the tornado, which reached speeds of 200 miles per hour, destroyed roughly half the businesses in the town. Dozens of homes were wiped off their concrete slabs and cars were picked up and tossed miles away.

The damage served as a backdrop to Mr. Obama’s speech on Wednesday. “I’m here to make sure that they know, and that everybody who’s been affected knows that, you know, the federal government’s going to be right here until we get, you know, these communities rebuilt,” Mr. Obama said, “because when something like this happens to a wonderful community like this one, it happens to all of us and, you know, we’ve got to be there for them.”

Still, the election is six months away, and the poll also contained some unsettling news for him. Seventeen percent of Mr. Pryor’s supporters oppose the Affordable Care Act and say they would not vote for a candidate who disagrees with their stance on the issue. Mr. Pryor voted for the health care law, and if those voters flip, Mr. Cotton could be on top.

But there was no mention of the re-election campaign on Wednesday, as Mr. Obama spoke to residents.

“I could not be more impressed by the spirit of community that’s here,” he said.

“We got this gentleman right here, I just had a chance to meet, who was in one of these homes, where he lives, just when the storm hit. Thankfully, he and his 16-year-old son and wife are O.K.” He said it was a reminder of the importance of family. The families that he met with were “still mourning those they lost, but they couldn’t be more grateful and thankful for the way the community has responded.”